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Civil servants face dismissal under new plan

The troika and the government on Friday appeared closer to an agreement on a method to reduce the number of civil servants that would mean Greece could avoid having to fire tens of thousands of workers.

Administrative Reform Minister Antonis Manitakis, who has been openly opposed to the troika?s requests for mass sackings, on Friday presented a plan to Greece?s lenders that would reduce public servant numbers by firing employees who have broken the civil service code and gradually laying off workers from organizations that are merged or closed.

Manitakis informed the troika that some 11,000 civil servants could be fired for a range of offenses and that the closure and merging of public bodies would affect about 20,000 of their colleagues. The plan for the latter group would be to evaluate their skills and dismiss those deemed unsuitable, who would receive 75 percent of their pay for 12 months after being sacked.